1 Samuel 5:4
head <07218> [the head.]
Dagon ................. Dagon ................ Dagon's <01712> [of Dagon.]
The name of this idol, Dagon, signifies a fish: and it is supposed to be the Atergatis of the Syrians, corruptly called Derceto by the Greeks, which had the upper part like a woman, and the lower part like a fish; as Lucian informs us: [Derketous de eidos en Phoinike ethe‚sam‚n, the‚ma xenon; ‚misen men gyn‚; to de okoson ek m‚r¢n es akrous podas, ichtlyos our‚ apoteinetai;] "In Phoenicia I saw the image of Derceto; a strange sight truly! For she had the half of a woman, but from the thighs downward a fish's tail." Diodorus, (1. ii.) describing the same idol, as represented at Askelon, says, [to men pros¢pon echei synaikos, to d'allo s¢ma pan ichthyos.] "It had the head of a woman, but all the rest of the body a fish's." Probably Horace alludes to this idol, in De Art. Poet. v. 4; {Desinat in piscem, mulier formosa superne:} "The upper part a handsome woman, and the lower part a fish." If such was the form of this idol, then everything that was human was broken off from what resembled a fish.
Dagon ................. Dagon ................ Dagon's <01712> [the stump. or, the fishy part.]
